On March 5th, DSA’s National Political Committee sent an advisory poll asking all members whether DSA should endorse Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. This poll closed on March 12th at noon EST. The response was overwhelmingly in favor: 76% of participants said Yes, and 24% said No.

The Trump administration and its supporters continue to put out utterly false information about immigrants and refugees in the United States. But the immigrants’ rights movement is fighting back hard in the streets, in Congress and in the court of public opinion.

Editor’s Note: The article below is a submission to the CPUSA’s preconvention discussion. Comments are welcome.

Recent developments both favor and require we: RECOMMIT TO COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL UNITY! The documents opening our pre-convention discussion are in our best tradition, encouraging contributions. The draft program is strong on growing threats from environmental dangers and wars.

Demonstrators are gearing up for major demonstrations in front of the White House in Washington March 16 to protest President Donald Trump's violent attempts to overthrow the democratically elected Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuela.

“U.S. hands off Venezuela! NO to the coup — NO to sanctions — NO to a new U.S. war,” reads a statement by National Coalition (NC) and some 150 other organizations and individuals behind the Saturday protest.

The Vice President of Communication, Tourism and Culture of Venezuela, Jorge Rodriguez, offered a press conference on Friday during which he demonstrated the participation of the U.S. senator for the state of Florida, Marco Rubio, in the cyber sabotage that left the South American country without power for more than 24 hours.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced late Thursday that President Nicolas Maduro ordered schools and offices be shut on Friday in order to speed up the repairs of the Venezuelan electric system, which was attacked by far-right groups Thursday afternoon.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly rejects the cynical decision by Donald’s Trump Administration to extend for another year the infamous executive order initially approved in 2015 by former president Barack Obama, declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary” threat against the US security.

For most of the countries it is unconceivable that the first military power of the planet, which does not miss any opportunity to violate the International Law and systematically uses the force to satisfy its interests, intends to declare Venezuela a “threat”.

The United States government has renewed it's declaration of a national emergency over Venezuela for another year, which former President Barack Obama initially decreed in March 2015.

In response, the Venezuelan government said the renewal of this measure is "a historic error" in the context of the economic aggressions and threats of military intervention to which the U.S. has subjected the country.

Editor’s Note: The interview below of CPUSA chairman John Bachtell was conducted by Peoples Dispatch from India.

Can you make a brief and general assessment of the US shutdown’s impact on the US working class?

A: The economic impact of the 35-day government shut down, the longest ever, was felt deeply by the 800,000 federal government workers, contractors, and millions who depend on the vital services that the government provides. Many workers went without two consecutive paychecks and were forced to borrow money, go to food banks and miss days of work because they just couldn’t afford to pay for transportation. Many subcontractors, including many low paid workers, will not be paid at all for time lost. And small businesses, restaurants and services that rely on federal workers as customers were severely hurt along with their workers.

For the first time in our lifetimes, Medicare for All appears to be within reach.

For decades, one rogue Senator has repeatedly proposed single-payer healthcare, agitating against the profiteering of private insurers and drug companies while calling for a movement of working people to wrest healthcare out of the market. That Senator is Bernie Sanders, and now he’s on the verge of running for president.

Sanders made Medicare for All a leading demand in his 2016 presidential campaign, drawing out the division in the Democratic Party between billionaire donors, their establishment politicians and millions of working people.

Venezuelan permanent ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) Samuel Moncada denounced on Thursday in the Security Councy that the United States government is permanently military threatening Venezuela.

The Venezuelan diplomatic also warned against the attempts of coup d'etat against the democratically elected government led by President Nicolas Maduro, attempts that are perpetrated through the illegal entry of the so-called "humanitarian aid."

In the framework of the 40th session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN), the Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, held an important meeting on Wednesday with the ambassadors in Geneva of the States members of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (Mnoal), whose pro tempore presidency is held by the South American country.

The recent threats of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to take military actions against Venezuela, are samples of the desires of the political forces of North America in controlling the natural resources, specifically the Venezuelan oil, denounced on Tuesday the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

“The United States wants oil from Venezuela and is willing to go to war”, the president said in an interview with the US television network ABC News and aired on VTV.

“A meeting with Elliot Abrams is pending to finalize the proposal of the Interests Office, but everything depends on respect”, said the Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, during a press conference offered yesterday to international media from the headquarters of the Organization. of the United Nations, (UN), in New York.

The Venezuelan diplomat confirmed that the talks with the US government are permanent and that he hopes to meet again with the US envoy to reach a respectful agreement between both parties so that Washington can maintain its diplomatic presence in the country.

The real intention of the US government headed by Donald Trump is oil. This was stated by the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, who showed the book The Threat, where its author, the former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Andrew McCabe, revealed a series of secrets of the first actions that president Trump executed at the beginning of his mandate.

During a videoconference with the Superior General Staff of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, blamed the Colombian Head of State for all the provocations that have arisen in the border boundary and the acts of violence that may be unleashed, however, ratified their respect for the Colombian people and their military forces.

After airport workers threatened a strike and brought Trump to his knees last month, and as they threatened to do so again this coming Saturday, Pelosi has capitulated to his anti-immigrant hysteria and agreed to increases for immigration enforcement, including $7.6 billion for ICE ($512 million over FY2018) and $14.9 billion for CBP ($942 million over FY2018). $1.375 billion is allocated towards border barriers.

“The extremists of the White House have proposed to impose a coup in Venezuela and we have rejected it”, said the constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros.

The ANSWER coalition released a call for a massive march against Trump's agression against Venezuela for March 16th.

The ANSWER Coalition, of which the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a founding member called for a national march in DC on March 16th against the Trump administration’s effort to engineer a coup in Venezuela.